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MUMBAI: Having tasted limited success in the Indian market, Japanese car major Nissan has decided to drive in a sub-Alto car in India under the Datsun badge — priced a little upwards of Rs 2 lakh — which will also be shared by French alliance partner Renault.

The car, which will be developed and manufactured out of India under the Datsun brand, will be pitched as the company's volume-model in India, Nissan's global chief planning officer Andy Palmer told TOI here. "You are only seeing parts of the story with the recently-launched Datsun ?Go' hatchback and the soon-to-be launched ?Go Plus' MPV. But we have got an A platform vehicle to come below that where the space is very spartan. This will be priced lower than the Go," Palmer said, making it clear that the company will go further down the market to grab share in the highly-competitive market.

Nissan recently-revived the Datsun brand for a stronger foray into key emerging markets like India and the Go hatchback has been the first vehicle to debut here. The Go, which was introduced to take on the volume-laden Maruti Alto and Hyundai Eon, was launched at an entry price of Rs 3.12 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) but has met with limited success, partly due to a weak dealer network and also because of the strong branding of its rivals. Palmer said that the company now wants to grab at least 10% market share in India, led equally by Datsun and Nissan. Currently, its share is a little over 2%.

Speaking about the entry car, he said the vehicle is being developed in partnership with Renault. "The car is being developed in India, it will be manufactured in India with nearly 100% local suppliers." Nissan will badge the vehicle under the Datsun brand while Renault will work out its independent strategy.

Palmer said that the India-made car will also be sold in "surrounding markets" while there are plans to manufacture it in other markets too. Nissan and Renault were earlier planning to launch an entry car in partnership with homegrown two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto, but the project fell through after differences between the partners.

Palmer said while the Datsun brand will be aimed at the entry car buyers, Nissan will be positioned at the premium segment. The company sells the Micra hatch under the Nissan brand and on Thursday launched the next-generation version of the Sunny sedan, priced Rs 7.29-10.22 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai).